The creaking door swung open with a gentle push, echoing through the gloomy emptiness of the gatehouse. Not much light managed it's way inside, only coming through the small slits in the stone slabs that made up it's structure.
The slightly moist dampness of the place made Cyphers nose twitch as he let one foot pass through the entrance, and then the other. With a keen ear listening for any movements or even the sound of breath from any individuals thinking themselves good enough to hide from him, he heard nothing.
"Two stories?"
The only thing directly after the entrance was a winding staircase sorrounded by two narrow walls leading further up into the structure. Likely, the drawbridge controlled were in the upper level.
"It's hard to believe mortals could even navigate this place."
Cypher began slowly ascending the staircase, all the while, he took his mask off, latching it to his waist. The lack of light prevented him from seeing through the tinted lenses, forcing him to remove it.
Already enhanced by the body of a Dreamweaver, his eyes naturally adjusted better now that they weren't hampered by an external item.
With the soft whistling of wind bypassed the miniscule gaps in the stone, irrating his ears as he walked. Not long later, Cypher reached the top of the staircase to a new room.
Unlike the entrance, this was a fully sized square space holding a certain number of tables, some chairs and an empty plate of food. On such a table, the dripping of liquid hit the floor rhythmacly - The source being small jug-like container had toppled over, possibly from the original guard overseeing this area rushing out?
Nevertheless, both of the far walls held moderately sized windows. Honestly, to Cypher, they looked more like prison cell doors. Both these windows were built opposite to eachover, thought, without any glass but instead cold, tightly packed steal rods to prevent anything from falling through or getting in.
Beneath one such barred off window was a wheel like contraption attached to a metal apparatus that protruded from the floor. With a small handle on this wheel it was obviously some king of lever system, one that controlled something...
"This should be it. Once the bridge is down and I'm done, I'll get out of here." Nodding to himself, Cypher made up his mind and with haste moved forward towards the lever.
The flapping of wings followed behind until stopping, with Rain landing ontop of the windows ledge Infront of the lever. Just small enough to fit through the bars he watched over Cypher.
Brief flashes of light illuminated the room while Cypher let his hand rest on the wheel. The battle outside only intensified, especially in between Clementine and Mamon, both of whom were like natural disasters in their own right.
Gripping the wheel, Cypher tightened his grip and - with little resistance - the sound of gears and chains churned beneath the stone floor below. Heavy metal grinding shook the ground with vibration and screeched with friction.
Outside, in the now empty perimeter of the defensive wall littered with bodies, one would see the oakwood bridge that originally allowed the kingdoms army to leave the castle now once again lowering above the moat pit.
By now, the entire battlefield outside was like a hellscape. Blood and limbs could be seen even from a long distance away. The night filled with cries of those who had lost their lives, or were about to. Even from Cyphers position, they could still be heard.
The land which once rested white and cold was now red and warm.
With the lowering of the bridge, perhaps the battle would end soon after. The Euphoraline had surely been digested by at least a large portion of the Kingdoms forces judging by the stalls that had been serving food to them as a final meal before their possible death.
"It's only a matter of time. The drug should be making its way through their stomach and into their bloodstream soon enough." With his hands working to rotate the wheel, Cypher thought about possible rewards he could get for his contributions. Surely, just maybe, he could ask to learn alchemy? Any subject that needed study was of great intrest and could not be left initialized.
With just a few seconds away from the bridge making contact with the ground, Cypher felt full of confidence and already planned to make his way back to the battlefield once he had finished.
That confidence...was a mistake.
Like night and day, the world seemed to go silent. The creaking, slow crawl of a door made it's way into Cyphers ears, abruptly stopping his attempts to lower the bridge and completing his mission.
'Someone is downstairs'
Within a moment the door below stopped it's motion, and went silent.
Step...
A leathery material hit the floor. Cypher tried to remain quite and listen to whatever was coming towards him. He could not see with the lower floor as the staircase walls blocked his vision.
Like clockwork, calm and slow steps hit the stone floor and moved closer each passing moment.
Soldier? Their too calm. Surely they've seen the bodies outside.
Dreamweaver.
While the footsteps reached the staircase and started to make their way up, Cypher looked towards Rain, who was tense and ready to fight at a moments notice
'I want you to send a message to Orion. Tell him to come to the castle if I'm not out in one hour.' With his Psychic connection, Cypher spoke to Rain with urgency.
Rain, tilting his head, responded with confusion and anxiety. Why couldn't he help? Is he not good enough?
'Its not your weakness, but mine. Whoever is coming is calm, and already knows I'm here.' the bridge lowering and the bodies on the wall made that obvious ,'Its either a fool, or a high caliber Dreamweaver.'
Though he could increase his survival chance if it was a caliber one or two - if, in the slight chance that it wasn't , a rank one dreambeast would just get in the way. At the very least, he could send a message to someone stronger for help.
'Do it, or else I won't be able to protect you.' with a solemn Voice, Cypher extended his finger and pushed it against Rains body, forcing him out the window. The bird, weakly flapping its wings, looked backthrough the bars before flying away.
Now that he was alone, Cyphers mouth dropped to a cold flat line, with his eyes narrowing as his ears twitching at the presence behind him.
"Such a beautiful scene," A mocking, deep and powerful voice came from the stairway. It was simultaneously filled with noble a noble elegance and a peasants sharp tongue ,"It reminds me of the play 'Silver Dagger'. It really was beautiful when the boy sacrificed himself to save the princess. It was popular with the poor vermin before King Nova banned it, a real shame."
Cypher, with his back still turned, didn't immediately answer but instead materialised sand inside his balled up fist secretly. With a breath, he opened his mouth ,"It sounds interesting, so, how about you tell me more about this play?"
"Heh, your funny kid," The man, now amused, chuckled , "And let your little birdy finish whatever you just told it to do? Boy, I'm not someone you play mind games with." A sickening, air churning pressure pressed down on Cypher.
Glass cracked on the tables of the room with no sign of stopping. Tables rattled on the ground and the wind breeze intensified.
Cypher felt a sense of meloncholic defeat. He knew he wouldn't give up in the face of almost certain defeat, however, he also knew his chances of winning were slim. The man behind him was - without any doubt - a caliber three Dreamweaver.